You might want to look at this

Paul, have you seen this product?

https://nixtrainz.com

Basically, you replace the loco motherboard with this and then you're all set. One end has the 21 pin socket, the other end has a 10-pin socket with all the function leads you wished you had. The plug makes it super easy to remove all the shell wiring from the board when you need to remove the shell for servicing.

Plus it has solder pins on the board for stay alive. Comes with resistors on-board for LEDs.

For $16, it solves a lot of 21 pin decoder install headaches.

P.S. They're coming on board as an advertiser.

@joe f

Thanks, Joe. I have installed one of Nick’s Decoder Buddy motherboards. Nick and his wife stopped by my place Thursday for some train talk. Among the issues were restricted vertical clearance and ways around it.

I didn't realize Nick had gone commercial...

Last I talked to him he was still thinking about it.

I like the board.

@jeff

Yep, Nick is on the loose. 

Found them

Thank you JT at Scale Sound Systems. TCS makes both male and female adaptors. And Nick Santos has sourced some wire ribbon for the connection. Now as soon as this move to Plano, TX is under control I'll show some photos. 

That was about the easiest buying experience I've ever had...

When you're only selling a single product, checking out via PayPal goes amazingly fast.

I'm going to try something with this - I've got a couple RailPro LM-3's to install, and so I'll get a 21-pin to 9-pin adapter to use. We'll see how it goes.